The portal of networks of the transitional left (24ur) was the first to receive (probably from Muženič) the decision of the administrative court that the former director of the National Investigation Office (NPU), Darko Muženič, who was dismissed in May this year, won a lawsuit against the state. He was able to prove that his dismissal was illegal. The Administrative Court in Nova Gorica decided to uphold the lawsuit without an appeal against this decision. Thus the police must hire Muženič back to the position of director of the NPU and pay him the costs of the procedure within 15 days. According to the latest developments, the media, the judiciary, and the prosecution are working hand in hand against the current government.
Recall, in the spring Acting Director General of Police Anton Travner dismissed Darko Muženič from the position of Director of the National Investigation Office (NPU), and appointed Igor Lamberger as v. d. Director of the Investigative Office. Upon his dismissal, professor and political scientist Miro Hačel wrote that according to the fifth paragraph of Article 83 of the Civil Servants Act, this is legal, as the police belong to the executive branch. However, the court apparently disagreed with its decision. During Pahor’s government, between 2009 and 2011, Muženič failed to hold the position as director of the Money Laundering Office. As revealed by the investigation commission, dr. Anže Logar, was involved in the infamous affair of laundering billions of euros of Iranian money in the NLB. He did not continue prosecuting those responsible even after he took the director position at the NPU. Moreover, he suggested to the prosecution not to prosecute those responsible for money laundering, which he should have supervised at the time.
In the past, our media also reported how the dismissed director Muženič covered all suspicious transactions of the former national security adviser, Damir Črnčec, during the government of Marjan Šarec. State Secretary for National Security in the Prime Minister’s Office, Žan Mahnič, warned at the time that the problem of our kidnapped country was that those protecting crime advance to places where crime should be prosecuted, but is not. “Without political responsibility, even the NPU and the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office would not be able to do what they did. They can only do that because Darko Muženič is investigating Darko Muženič.” MP Branko Grims also pointed out that Muženič was one of the key actors in the story with a billion Iranian money and described his appointment to such a position as shameful.
He sent false information abroad, and was also charged with criminal offenses
It already turned out in 2017 that something unusual, or practically nothing, was happening in the Farrokh case, when the then Minister of the Interior carried out internal control over the work of the police. An internal investigation revealed that the police acted in violation of the law and actually covered up the case. Two parliamentary commissions, which were also approved by the Bank of Slovenia and the internal audit of the NLB itself, proved that it was an action by the Iranian intelligence in the NLB, but thanks to the NPU, all this remained without an epilogue. According to some media reports, Rado Pezdir was the only investigator who ever contacted the Iranian and interviewed him. The NPU was clearly not interested in the disputed Iraj Farrokhzadeh. With July guidelines and mandatory instructions for police tasks in detecting and investigating serious crimes, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs also ordered a revision of the investigation into the criminal complaint filed by NLB bankers in the Farrokh case, which caused considerable excitement in certain circles.
In recent months, however, Muženič has also been a big supporter of the self-proclaimed whistleblower Ivan Galet, and given his reputation, it is no wonder that he has assumed priority to investigating possible irregularities in the purchase of protective equipment. According to reliable information, Muženič left the investigation of the purchase of masks and ventilators to the police officer, who became known to the public for his debt collecting deals. In 2010, the Finance newspaper revealed the work of Mitja Gregorec in an article entitled Criminalist in the morning, debt collector in the afternoon. Furthermore, Požareport recently reported that Muženič was allegedly sued by Sova due to certain criminal offenses, where there was also mention about financing of terrorism. Muženič is more than obviously mentioned in contexts that, to put it mildly, are not appropriate for NOU director.
The dismissal was lawful, as the NPU falls under the executive branch
The court has now upheld Muženič’s verdict, alleging that the procedures of his innocent dismissal was improperly used to dismiss him, under the Civil Servants Act. The mentioned procedure is supposed to apply only to political officials, and the director of the NPU is not one of them, was reported on the 24ur portal. In its decision, the court certainly did not take into account the fact that Darko Muženič, for the reasons listed above, does not belong to the position of director of the National Investigation Office. There are also more and more questions in the public regarding the responsibility of the judiciary, in their work as well as in concrete decisions. “Confidence in the judiciary has dropped drastically. What is key to assessing trust in elected politicians is the trust of the people expressed in elections. In the judiciary this is measured by other watts, but we have seen a lot of this research, including European, according to which the trust in the judiciary branch of government in Slovenia is one of the lowest in Europe, after we have already joined the European Union,” recently said Prime Minister Janez Janša.
